states

Methodologies utilized by the Environmental Protection Agency in setting state-by-state targets based on expected use of energy efficiency and renewable energy to reduce emission rates significantly underestimate their potential, both today and in the future.[read more]

The release of the IPCC Synthesis Report earlier this month underscores the growing imperative for swift and aggressive action to combat climate change. With the shifting control of Congress, answering that call becomes more of an uphill battle.[read more]

Those seeking climate action from the U.S. should actually be looking at the states and what they’re already doing. As international climate talks open up to “sub-national” participants, states may get a chance to take their rightful place among the world’s advanced energy leaders.[read more]

In 49 of 50 states, fossil fuels were the most consumed fuel. South Carolina was the single exception, where nuclear power was the most consumed fuel. And coal consumption predominates in states like West Virginia, Kentucky, and Wyoming, while unsurprisingly oil is the most consumed fuel in Texas.[read more]

Over the course of our campaign to encourage Florida Governor Rick Scott to develop a strong plan for meeting the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan standards, I have been heartened to hear about the efforts of so many in Florida to make reducing carbon pollution.[read more]

Former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson recently compared the climate crisis to the 2008 financial crisis. He said: We’ve seen and felt the costs of underestimating the financial bubble. Let’s not ignore the climate bubble. Case in point: Florida.[read more]

In June, the EPA announced standards to limit carbon emissions from power plants, known as the Clean Power Plan (CPP). Currently power plants emit 40% of U.S. carbon emissions, but under the proposed Clean Power Plan, the U.S. power sector will cut carbon pollution by 30% below 2005 levels.[read more]

Aside from hosting a majority of the nation's wind farms, the Midwestern U.S. is not known for aggressively pushing the agenda on clean energy issues. But that may be changing as Minnesota joins other leading states in the effort to remake the electricity sector.[read more]

At the national level, establishments that extract crude oil and natural gas as well as naturally occurring mineral solids accounted for about 2% of the U.S. economy last year. In some states, though, the mining sector accounts for a much larger share of the economy.[read more]

In June 2014, the EPA released its proposed carbon emissions rules to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from existing fossil fuel power plants. Taking center stage in this proposal are the states, which are given the flexibility to determine their way of complying with the new regulatory requirements.[read more]

For North Carolina, the new EPA rules require that the state reduce its CO2 emission rates from the electric sector by 40% between 2012 and 2030. NC is already is well under way to meeting these reductions due to policies that clean up power plants and increase generation from clean sources.[read more]

As far as standards are concerned, there is a lot to like about the new EPA rule. Each state has a target spelled out in terms of pounds of CO2 per MWH. Instead of prescribing what states have to do to meet these standards, there are a number of mechanisms designed to help states meet their targets.[read more]

The new EPA rules call for the power sector to cut carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2030 from 2005 emissions levels, but the reductions will take place between the base measurement year of 2012 and the deadline of 2030. Three states will have to have a percentage reduction of more than 50 percent.[read more]

Between 2005 and 2011, all four Census regions—West, South, Midwest, and Northeast—experienced emissions declines, with the Northeast experiencing larger emissions reductions than the other regions. Underlying state-level emissions changes spanned an even wider range.[read more]